With the coronavirus stats going in the right direction, all of us at C&G Newspapers look forward to resuming publication of the St. Clair Shores Sentinel and Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle on May 27th. All other C&G newspapers will begin publishing on June 10th (Advertiser-Times on June 24th). In the meantime, continue to find local news on our website and look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

Attention Readers: Find Us in Your Mailbox Soon

With the coronavirus stats going in the right direction, all of us at C&G Newspapers look forward to resuming publication of the St. Clair Shores Sentinel and Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle on May 27th. All other C&G newspapers will begin publishing on June 10th (Advertiser-Times on June 24th). In the meantime, continue to find local news on our website and look for us on Facebook and Twitter.

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Statistics can be misleading. Technically, crime rose overall by 1 percent in 2011 from the previous year, but as new Public Safety Director Stephen Poloni pointed out at a Jan. 23 City Council meeting, that was actually only an increase of three crimes.

Perhaps more importantly, the most serious types of offenses — index crimes — fell last year by 2.5 percent, he pointed out.

GROSSE POINTES — A state grant has the potential to speed up the process by which the five Grosse Pointes might create a single emergency dispatching center.

On Jan. 20, the Michigan Department of Treasury announced the first round of newly created Economic Vitality Incentive Program grants. Proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder and approved by the Legislature, the $4.3 million in grant funding for 27 Michigan communities includes a significant chunk for possible creation of a single dispatch center and prisoner lockup for the five Grosse Pointes.

Bob Bashara — husband of murdered Park woman Jane Bashara — emerged from his home around 3 p.m. Feb. 1 to make a brief statement to the media.

Flanked by his mother, Nancy Bashara, and his son, Robert, Bashara wiped away tears as he thanked people for their outpouring of support since the death of his wife, who was found slain in her vehicle in a Detroit alley Jan. 25.

As the investigation into the murder of Jane Bashara continued, police had begun to focus their attention on her husband of 26 years, Bob Bashara.

Bob Bashara had not been labeled a suspect at press time — Park Public Safety Chief David Hiller would only say he’s a “person of interest” in the case. But he was also the only person of interest as of Jan. 30, according to police.

Only hours after her husband reported her missing, Jane Bashara’s body was found the morning of Jan. 25 in her abandoned vehicle on Detroit’s east side.

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — Officials seem to have narrowed their search for a new public safety director to a single candidate, but it was the terms of that candidate’s proposed contract that prompted discussion at a Jan. 17 City Council meeting.

John J. Schulte, the former deputy public safety director and deputy chief of police and fire in Grosse Pointe Park, is likely to be named to succeed former Shores Public Safety Director Stephen Poloni, who retired last fall and is now the public safety director in Grosse Pointe City.

BIRMINGHAM — The venerable Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors has members from all over the region, but ones from the Pointes are especially well-represented in a new exhibit at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center.

Of about 57 works from 147 entries selected by juror Ken Gross for the exhibit, “The Creative Process,” more than a dozen are by Grosse Pointe artists. And of that group, the majority — including two of the top three prize winners — are members of the Pointe Studio Ten art critique group.

GROSSE POINTE CITY — The title “Urban Edge” might suggest an exhibit filled with images of crumbling buildings and seedy settings, but while those are certainly present in the new Grosse Pointe Art Center show, they don’t define it.

Instead, “Urban Edge” contains portraits of breathtaking beauty as well as heartrending loss, along with more than a few abstract works open to interpretation. Juried by Donald Calloway, “Urban Edge” opened with a reception Jan. 20 and runs through Feb. 25.

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — Add the Shores to the growing list of communities that think so-called “smart” meters are a dumb idea.

At a meeting Jan. 17, City Council member Daniel Schulte called for a moratorium on these meters, noting that several other cities around metro Detroit had enacted similar resolutions, and he had fielded a number of calls and emails about these devices from worried Shores residents.

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Public safety officers from the City, Farms and Park rushed to the scene of a three-alarm fire that broke out at a duplex in the 500 block of Neff around 2:14 a.m. Jan. 18.

City Public Safety Director Stephen Poloni said the powerful blaze caused extensive damage to the third floor of the Tudor-style duplex, but fortunately, the occupants were able to get out without sustaining any injuries. The cause of the fire appeared, at press time, to be “careless smoking,” he said.

The body of a missing Park man was found in a secluded part of Belle Isle around 1 p.m. Jan. 19, just days after his family contacted police when he hadn’t come home.

Park Capt. David Loch said cadaver dogs from the Michigan State Police discovered the body of James Scott Ivers, 46, in a remote, marshy and wooded part of the island that was hard to access. How or why he ended up there is a mystery.

GROSSE POINTES — At least as of press time, this winter has been fairly un-winter-like, with above normal temperatures and little snow.

But that doesn’t mean local cities won’t be hosting annual seasonal festivals — it just means that visitors may have to be prepared to forgo certain weather-dependent components if Mother Nature doesn’t come through in the next couple of weeks.

Upcoming Events

The events in our calendar were submitted prior to the coronavirus crisis.
As efforts have increased to contain the spread of the coronavirus, many events have been canceled.
Read More...
On March 13, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to cancel all events statewide that involve more than 250 people. It is recommended that you call ahead if you still intend to attend one of these events.